Egypt Again.

the last time i visited egypt was in June, 2011, a little more than five years ago. it was more of a stop over on the way to my final destination, new york. we decided to stay for two days with the primary intention of visiting the pyramids and the sphinx.

this time it was different. A has been wanting to visit egypt ever since he can remember. i had an off from work on the 6th of July {which also happens to be my birthday} so we decided to make a short trip out of it.

A has colleagues in Cairo, a family of four. he’s very friendly with them and they had been inviting us to come over for a while. we decided to spend 2 days in cairo at their home. two days in el gouna this beautiful resort town by the red sea {around a 4.5 hours drive from cairo} and the remaining two days in el ain sokhna another resort town by the red sea {around a 1.5 hours drive from cairo}.

we flew via egypt airlines. cairo is a short 5 hour plane ride from mumbai. on learning of our plan, a lot of people asked us whether it was safe to travel to egypt. we inquired with our friends in cairo {who informed us that it was 95% safe} and decided to take the slight risk.

Day 1.

we landed in cairo at around 5.30 am! our friend ashraf picked us up at the airport and drove us to his house in heliopolis which is a 15 minute drive from the airport. he showed us around his beautiful home {which was to be our home too, for the next few days} and we met his sweet wife and the two most adorable kids. seline {1.5} and mark {5}.

after having an Egyptian breakfast of falafel {it’s not just a lebanese staple! but egyptian too}, ful {egyptian flava beans} eaten with aish baladi {egyptian flat bread}, koshari {egyptian rice with lentils} scrambled eggs and cheese.. we took a tour of old cairo and visited the coptic district of cairo and its’ several churches {ashraf and his family are catholics}.

it was 35 degrees and sunny .. but old cairo is beautiful and we didn’t mind the sun at all.

^^ walking around the streets of old cairo with ashraf and his family^^

^^ something about narrow lanes ^^

^^ A and Seline….up until then i had never seen A even hold a child. seeing the two of them bond the entire trip made me SO happy. i think it’s safe to say now that he likes kids^^

at night we saw the pyramids of giza and the sphinx. the sound and light show. we were 6 of the 15 people in total who were there to watch the show. it was a friday night and a public holiday.

it’s sad that a sight as beautiful and mesmerizing as the pyramids of giza and the sphinx {one of the seven wonders of the world} attracts such few people these days. it has a lot do with political instability in the region {two revolutions in 5 years!} and worldwide terrorism in general. and it saddened me so very much to see all the locals outside trying so hard to sell us their souvenirs. running after us and even begging, ready to sell them for as low as 1 USD. Ashraf informed us that a few years ago they would sell the same souvenirs for 20 USD and we would have had to reserve seats for the sound and light show a week in advance!

i hope and pray that things get better for them soon. and that the egypt tourism industry bounces back to its former glory days which it well deserves.